Nazi war criminal deported to Italy

A Vancouver man convicted of Nazi war crimes during the Second World War is expected to arrive in the country Saturday morning, extradited from Canada after a long battle through every level of the Canadian justice system, an Italian official said.

Michael Seifert (left) and lawyer Doug Christie leave court in Vancouver on March 6, 2003 after attending an extradition hearing.

By:ARIEL DAVIDThe Associated Press, Published on Fri Feb 15 2008

ROME – A Vancouver man convicted of Nazi war crimes during the Second World War is expected to arrive in the country Saturday morning, extradited from Canada after a long battle through every level of the Canadian justice system, an Italian official said.

Canadian officials could not immediately be reached for comment on whether Michael Seifert, 83, was on his way but his lawyer said Seifert had been taken into custody.

"His wife phoned me yesterday (Thursday) and said that he would be leaving today," Doug Christie told The Canadian Press. "He got a phone call to her to tell her he was being taken away."

Seifert's wife, Christine, declined comment Friday.

Seifert would be held in military prison near Naples to begin serving his sentence, said Bartolomeo Costantini, the military prosecutor who pursued the case. He was to arrive in Rome on a special military flight from Toronto.

Seifert was convicted in absentia in 2000 by a military tribunal on nine counts of murder, committed while he was an SS guard at a prison transit camp in Bolzano, northern Italy.

At his trial in Italy, people testified he starved a 15-year-old prisoner to death, gouged out a person's eyes, beat prisoners before shooting them and tortured a woman before killing her and her daughter.

Seifert has acknowledged being a guard at the SS-run Bolzano camp in 1944 and 1945, but denies being involved in the atrocities.

A British Columbia judge ordered him extradited in 2003 and the B.C. Court of Appeal confirmed that ruling in 2007. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal of the extradition.

Seifert is a former millworker who has lived in Canada for more than five decades.

He unsuccessfully fought efforts by Ottawa to strip him of his citizenship based on allegations that he hid his past when he entered Canada.

Canada bars former members of the SS and related units because of their involvement in concentration camps and with other war crimes.

The Canadian Jewish Congress welcomed news that Seifert's long fight to stay in Canada appears to be over.

"That news will bring much-needed relief, especially to our Holocaust survivor community who, for more than 60 years now after World War II, have been asking what has Canada done in relation to dealing with Nazi war criminals and Nazi enablers," said Bernie Farber, congress CEO.

Farber said upwards of 1,500 "Nazi enablers" came to Canada after the war. Seifert is one of just a few who have faced justice.

Five others have been found by federal courts to have lied in order to enter Canada and are facing deportation.

"It's an important victory but it's a limited one and until and unless the other five are dealt with, the dark stain on Canada's past in this regard will remain," Farber said.

Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies in Canada, said Seifert needs to face justice in Italy.

"It's critical that this happens," Benlolo said Friday. "It sets an example for other war criminals, not only Nazi war criminals, but war criminals related to Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur or any other genocide, that there's no time limit to justice."

The Italian prosecutor, Costantini, said he planned to question Seifert as a witness to atrocities committed by other guards at the camp.

Seifert could eventually be allowed to serve his sentence on house arrest because of his age, Costantini said.

"Given his age, he could ask to be detained at home, if there is someone willing to host him," the prosecutor said in a telephone interview.

The Bolzano camp served as a transit point for Jews, Italian resistance fighters, Italians drafted for factory work and German army deserters who were being shipped north.

Seifert's lawyer said there is no further action he can pursue in Canada.

"Other than to pursue my belief that Canada is a bankrupt and corrupt nation, no," Christie said.